Community Forum
- 822 installs
- 787 repo stars
- Updated June 9, 2026
- kostja94/marketing-skills
community-forum is a Claude Code skill that provides guided copy, strategies, and invitation sequences for promoting products on forums, Reddit, Hacker News, Discord, Quora, and vertical communities for developers who ne
About
community-forum is a Claude Code skill from kostja94/marketing-skills at metadata version 1.1.1 that guides forum promotion, community invitations, and vertical community marketing. It covers Reddit, Hacker News, Discord, Quora, Developers communities, and related channels, with notes that community-led growth can cost roughly 90% less than paid acquisition. The skill pairs with reddit-posts for Reddit copy and integrated-marketing for broader strategy. Developers reach for community-forum when planning forum promotion, community invites, or brand presence in technical communities.
- Guides forum promotion, community invitation, and vertical community marketing
- Community-led growth (CLG) costs ~90% less than paid acquisition with ~3.2x higher customer LTV
- Indie Hackers delivers ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%
- Handles HN, Reddit, Discord, Quora, Wikipedia, and brand encyclopedia outreach
- Respects context from project-context.md before generating tailored promotion assets
Community Forum by the numbers
- 822 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- +4 installs in the week ending Jul 29, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
- Ranked #535 of 1,879 Marketing & SEO skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Security screen: LOW risk (skills.sh audit)
- Data as of Jul 31, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
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| Installs | 822 |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 787 |
| Security audit | 3 / 3 scanners passed |
| Last updated | June 9, 2026 |
| Repository | kostja94/marketing-skills ↗ |
How do you promote a product on developer forums?
Get guided copy, strategies, and invitation sequences for promoting their product on forums, Reddit, Developers, Hacker News, Discord, Quora, and vertical comm
Who is it for?
Developers launching a technical product who need structured forum and community promotion across Reddit, Hacker News, and Discord.
Skip if: Teams seeking paid ad campaigns, SEO page optimization, or Reddit-only copy without broader community strategy.
When should I use this skill?
User mentions forum promotion, Hacker News launch, Discord community invites, Reddit community growth, or vertical community marketing.
What you get
Forum promotion copy, community invitation sequences, and channel-specific outreach strategies.
- forum promotion copy
- community invitation sequences
- channel outreach strategy
By the numbers
- Published as marketing-skills metadata version 1.1.1
- Notes community-led growth at roughly 90% lower cost than paid acquisition
Files
Channels: Community & Forum Promotion
Guides forum promotion, community invitation, and vertical community marketing. Community-led growth (CLG) costs ~90% less than paid acquisition with ~3.2x higher customer LTV. Indie Hackers delivers ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%; HN and Reddit require sustained engagement. For cold start planning (first users, launch channels), see cold-start-strategy. For indie hacker strategy (first 100 users, Build in Public content framework, Indie Hackers tactics), see indie-hacker-strategy.
When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1-2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.
Initial Assessment
Check for project context first: If .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md exists, read it for product, audience, and brand voice.
Identify: 1. Goal: Leads, community growth, brand awareness 2. Platform fit: Indie Hacker, HN, Reddit, Discord, vertical forums 3. Timeline: One-time launch vs sustained (4-6 months for Indie Hackers)
Forum Types
| Platform | Audience | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Indie Hacker | Indie makers, founders | Sustained engagement; authentic journey posts; ~23% conversion vs PH 3% |
| Hacker News | Tech, startups | Show HN launch; ~1,300 posts/day; front page = luck + timing |
| Hackernoon | Dev, tech readers | Content distribution |
| Industry forums | Niche verticals | Discount codes for leads; search "[industry] forum"; post event/activity promotion; see discount-marketing-strategy for code strategy |
| Subreddit-specific | See reddit-posts; 90/10 rule; 29+ posts for traction | |
| Discourse (self-hosted forum) | Community-specific | Owned forum; full SEO/GEO control; see Discourse SEO section below |
Discourse (Self-Hosted Forum) SEO
If you run a Discourse forum (or similar self-hosted forum), SEO/GEO considerations differ from posting on third-party platforms:
| Practice | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Guest access | Allow anonymous reading for categories meant to attract traffic; login-only mode severely limits indexed pages |
| Topic structure | First post carries SEO weight; write clear titles and substantive opening posts; avoid fragmented short topics |
| Sitemap & robots | Discourse generates sitemaps automatically; monitor in GSC as a separate property (subdomain or subdirectory) |
| Content quality | Merge duplicates, mark resolved threads, surface FAQ topics—forum-level quality signals affect crawl and citation |
| GEO | Structured topic titles and well-formed opening posts are extractable by AI tools; forum format with timelines and accepted answers lends credibility |
| Subdomain vs subdirectory | Discourse recommends subdomain for operational reasons; search engines do not inherently favor either for ranking—choose based on infrastructure, not SEO alone |
Hacker News Launch
| Practice | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Title | "Show HN: [Product] - [specific problem solved]"; honest, no clickbait |
| Timing | Tue-Thu; peak US hours; avoid weekends, Mon, Fri |
| First comment | Invitation to engage; product status (beta/MVP); differentiated solution; try-it link |
| Assets | Live demo, GIFs, screenshots, 30-60s demo video |
| Expectation | Traffic spike, not sustained growth; partly luck-dependent |
Indie Hackers Best Practices
- Sustained engagement: 4–6 months; not a one-time launch
- Content: Authentic journey posts; product "sprinkled within"; avoid heavy promotion
- Result: ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%; organic traffic from authentic sharing
For full Indie Hackers tactics, Build in Public content framework (40/30/20/10), first 100 users → indie-hacker-strategy.
Community Invitation Tactics
| Channel | Method |
|---|---|
| Welcome email | Post-signup automation; 4x open, 5x CTR vs regular campaigns |
| Homepage CTA | Button, popup, banner; above-the-fold upgrade CTA |
| In-site placement | High-visibility areas; user-focused sections (e.g. dashboard, settings) |
| Banner | Homepage, carousel below hero |
| Registration emails | Success/confirmation email with community link |
| EDM campaign | Newsletter + banner, interview-for-membership |
| Discord | Post event/community info; founder engagement 2-3h/day |
| Vertical forums | Search "[industry] forum"; post event/activity promotion |
| Post-login form | In-app signup form shown after login; high-intent placement |
Welcome email best practices: One clear CTA per email; front-load value in subject; personalize (signup source, interests); link to best content, events; ask questions (~75% reply rate). Automated 2-4 email sequence.
Vertical Community Channels
| Principle | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Target | Find channels where target audience gathers |
| Niche over broad | Industry-specific subgroups; avoid mass posting |
| Caution | Mass posting risks removal; match community tone; choose wording carefully |
| Examples | Reddit subreddits, Discord servers, Quora, X, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, niche B2B communities |
| Regional | Large communities by locale—event/activity promotion; target vertical channels within each; see localization-strategy |
Community-led growth: Engage before promoting; build trust; contribute value first.
Natural Traffic (Complementary)
| Channel | Use |
|---|---|
| Hashtags | Social tag optimization |
| Facebook groups | Indirect referral |
| Giveaways | Attention and conversion |
Brand Basics (Encyclopedia, Q&A)
| Platform | Use |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Global; neutral, cited content; brand credibility |
| Quora | Q&A; brand discussion, thought leadership, long-term SEO |
| Stack Overflow | Tech/dev; expertise signals, backlinks |
| Regional | Local encyclopedias and Q&A by locale; verified credentials; see localization-strategy |
Wikipedia: Neutral language, credible references, no promotional content. Regional platforms require verified credentials; prioritize local search share. Free and sustainable; supports long-term conversion while search habits persist.
Output Format
- Forum selection and approach (HN vs IH vs industry)
- Community invitation plan (welcome email, CTA, banner, EDM, Discord)
- Vertical channel targeting
- Content strategy (authentic vs promotional mix)
- Timeline (launch vs sustained)
Related Skills
- reddit-posts: Reddit post copy, subreddit rules
- cold-start-strategy: Cold start orchestrates Product Hunt, Reddit, Indie Hackers, directories; this skill handles forum/community tactics
- indie-hacker-strategy: Indie hacker first 100 users; Build in Public; Indie Hackers tactics; this skill = forum/community tactics; indie-hacker = strategy + context
- directory-submission: Product Hunt, Taaft; different from forum community
- affiliate-marketing: Communities as recruitment channel
- top-banner-generator, popup-generator: Homepage CTA, banner
- newsletter-signup-generator: EDM, welcome email
- localization-strategy: Regional markets (local platforms by locale)
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Use community-forum for multi-channel community outreach; switch to reddit-posts when only Reddit post copy is needed.
FAQ
Which channels does community-forum cover?
community-forum covers forum and community promotion across Reddit, Hacker News, Discord, Quora, Developers communities, and vertical forums. It provides strategies and invitation sequences, deferring Reddit post copy to the reddit-posts skill.
When should developers use community-forum?
community-forum fits product launches or growth pushes needing community-led distribution. Use it for forum promotion, community building, and vertical community invites rather than paid ads or integrated marketing strategy alone.
Is Community Forum safe to install?
skills.sh reports 3 of 3 security scanners passed. Review the Security Audits panel on this page before installing in production.